Academy Teams

Hutchinson aiming for Derby delight

Central Coast Mariners captain John Hutchinson says the yellow and navy are hoping to record their first away win of the Hyundai A-League 2013/14 season in tomorrow’s F3 Derby at Hunter Stadium.

Central Coast Mariners captain John Hutchinson says the yellow and navy are hoping to record their first away win of the Hyundai A-League 2013/14 season in tomorrow-s F3 Derby at Hunter Stadium.

“It-s obviously a big game for our fans,” Hutchinson said. “We know they want this win more than any other game, so we-re hopefully going to win it for them.”

“It-s a game where we need to back up our home form after beating Adelaide and we need to make sure our performance is better. We played well against Adelaide, but we played well in patches. The boys have had a good week at training, we are just looking forward to another derby kicking off.”

Gary van Egmond-s men have picked up just three points from their last seven Hyundai A-League games and will be hoping to break their goal-scoring drought against their local foes. However, Hutchinson insists his side are keen to deny the Novocastrians.

“The F3 Derby is a big game. It-s a good rivalry that we have got going with Newcastle. We obviously want to win the game as much as they do and we know they are going to be desperate. They have a great squad this season, and there-s a lot of pressure on them. We always worry about ourselves and we need to go there and make sure we get the points,” he said.

The bottom-placed Newcastle outfit will welcome marquee man Emile Heskey back into their squad after overcoming a knee injury. Hutchinson says the Mariners will be keeping a close eye on the former England international should he feature for the Jets.

“Heskey is a great player, he has had a wonderful career. He-s a dangerous player, who knows how to score goals and is great in the build up. We-ve got to watch him, but there are ten other players as well. We-ll keep an eye on him, we know how they like to play to him and it-s up to us to stop him.”

Central Coast boss Graham Arnold has named an 18-man squad to tackle van Egmond-s charges, with Marcel Seip, Anthony Caceres and Michael Neill included for the trip north.

“We-ve got almost everyone back fully training, so there is squad depth and pressure on the first team. You need to make sure no one feels safe in the first team, whether you are winning or losing and the boys are putting pressure on each other. We-ve got a great squad and everyone is playing for positions,” he said.

The Central Coast skipper also praised young gun Storm Roux following his impressive start to the new campaign.

“Storm fits in well with the culture at the Mariners. He works hard, he-s been picked for the New Zealand national team and he deserves it, he-s a good player. He still has a lot to learn, but under the guidance of Arnie (Graham Arnold) and the rest of the coaching staff he is in good hands,” he concluded.